The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature) (36 page)

"Stop! This is a great to-do about nothing. The boy is not
necessarily bad because he is unfortunate. And if he is bad, what of
it? A bad person can be as hungry as a good one, and hunger is
always respectable. And so is weariness. The boy is worn and tired,
any one can see it. If he wants rest and shelter, that is no crime; let
him say it and have it, be he bad or good-there's room enough."

That settled it. Frau Stein was opening her mouth to try and
unsettle it again when Katrina brought the boy in and stood him
before the master and said, encouragingly,

"Don't be afraid, the master's a just man. Master, he's a plenty
good enough boy, for all he looks such a singed cat. He's out of
luck, there's nothing else the matter with him. Look at his face,
look at his eye. He's not a beggar for love of it. He wants work."

"Work!" scoffed Frau Stein; "that tramp?" And "work!" sneered
this and that and the other one. But the master looked interested,
and not unpleased. He said,

"Work, is it? What kind of work are you willing to do, lad?"

"He's willing to do any kind, sir," interrupted Katrina, eagerly,
"and he don't want any pay."

"What, no pay?"

"No sir, nothing but food to eat and shelter for his head, poor
lad."

"Not even clothes?"

"He shan't go naked, sir, if you'll keep him, my wage is bail for
that."

There was an affectionate light in the boy's eye as he glanced
gratefully up at his majestic new friend-a light which the master
noted.

"Do you think you could do rough work-rough, hard drudgery?"

"Yes, sir, I could, if you will try me; I am strong."

"Carry fire-logs up these long stairways?"

"Yes, sir."

"And scrub, like the maids; and build fires in the rooms; and
carry up water to the chambers; and split wood; and help in the
laundry and the kitchen, and take care of the dog?"

"Yes, sir, all those things, if you will let me try."

"All for food and shelter? Well, I don't see how a body is going to
refu-"

"Heinrich Stein, wait! If you think you are going to nest this
vermin in this place without ever so much as a by-your-leave to me,
I can tell you you are very much mis-"

"Be quiet!" said the husband, sternly. "Now, then, you have all
expressed your opinions about this boy, but there is one vote which
you have not counted. I value that one above some of the othersabove any of the others, in fact. On that vote by itself I would give
him a trial. That is my decision. You can discuss some other
subject, now-this one is finished. Take him along, Katrina, and
give him a room and let him get some rest."

v Katrina stiffened with pride and satisfaction in her triumph. The
boy's eyes looked his gratitude, and he said,

"I would like to go to work now, if I may, sir."

Before an answer could come, Frau Stein interrupted:

"I want to know. Whose vote was it that wasn't counted? I'm not
hard of hearing, and I don't know of any."

"The dog's."

Everybody showed surprise. But there it was: the dog hadn't
made a motion when the boy came in. Nobody but the master had
noticed it, but it was the fact. It was the first time that that demon
had ever treated a stranger with civil indifference. He was chained
in the corner, and had a bone between his paws and was gnawing
it; and not even growling, which was not his usual way. Frau
Stein's eyes beamed with a vicious pleasure, and she called out,

"You want work, do you? Well, there it is, cut out for you. Take
the dog out and give him an airing!"

Even some ofvthe hardest hearts there felt the cruelty of it, and
their horror showed in their faces when the boy stepped innocently
forward to obey.

"Stop!" shouted the master, and Katrina, flushing with anger,
sprang after the youth and halted him.

"Shame!" she said; and the master turned his indignation loose
and gave his wife a dressing down that astonished her. Then he
said to the stranger,

"You are free to rest, lad, if you like, but if you would rather
work, Katrina will see what she can find for you. What is your
name?"

The boy answered, quietly,

"Number 44, New Series 864,962."

Everybody's eyes came open in a stare. Of course. The master
thought perhaps he hadn't heard aright; so he asked again, and the
boy answered the same as before,

"Number 44, New Series 864,962."

"What a hell of a name!" ejaculated Hans Katzenyammer,
piously.

"Jail-number, likely," suggested Moses Haas, searchingly examining the boy with his rat eyes, and unconsciously twisting and
stroking his silky and scanty moustache with his fingers, a way he
had when his cogitations were concentrated upon a thing.

"It's a strange name," said the master, with a barely noticeable
touch of suspicion in his tone, "where did you get it?"

"I don't know, sir," said No. 44, tranquilly, "I've always had it."

The master forbore to pursue the matter further, probably fearing that the ice was thin, but Maria Vogel chirped up and asked,

"Have you ever been in jail?"

The master burst in with-

"There, that's enough of that! You needn't answer, my boy,
unless you want to." He paused-hopeful, maybe-but 44 did not
seize the opportunity to testify for himself. He stood still and said
nothing. Satirical smiles flitted here and there, down the table, and
the master looked annoyed and disappointed, though he tried to
conceal it. "Take him along, Katrina." He said it as kindly as he
could, but there was just a trifle of a chill in his manner, and it
delighted those creatures.

Katrina marched out with 44.

Out of a wise respect for the temper the master was in, there was
no outspoken comment, but a low buzz skimmed along down the
table, whose burden was, "That silence was a confession-the
chap's a Jail-Bird."

It was a bad start for 44. Everybody recognized it. Marget was
troubled, and asked Gustav Fischer if he believed the boy was what
these people were calling him. Fischer replied, with regret in his
tone,

"Well, you know, Fraulein, he could have denied it, and he
didn't do it."

"Yes, I know, but think what a good face he has. And pure, too;
and beautiful."

"True, quite true. And it's astonishing. But there it is, you
see-he didn't deny it. In fact he didn't even seem greatly interested
in the matter."

"I know it. It is unaccountable. What do you make out of it?"

"The fact that he didn't see the gravity of the situation marks
him for a fool. But it isn't the face of a fool. That he could be silent
at such a time is constructive evidence that he is a jail-Bird-with that face! which is impossible. I can't solve you that riddle, Fraulein
-it's beyond my depth."

Forty -Four entered, straining under a heavy load of logs, which
he dumped into a great locker and went briskly out again. He was
quickly back with a similar load; and another, and still another.

"There," said the master, rising and starting away, "that will do;
you are not required to kill yourself."

"One more-just one more," said the boy, as if asking a favor.

"Very well, but let that be the last," said the master, as if
granting one; and he left the room.

FortyFour brought the final load, then stood, apparently waiting
for orders. None coming, he asked for them. It was Frau Stein's
chance. She gave him a joyfully malicious glance out of her yellow
eyes, and snapped out-

"Take the dog for an airing!"

Outraged, friend and foe alike rose at her! They surged forward to
save the boy, but they were too late; he was already on his knees
loosing the chain, his face and the dog's almost in contact. And now
the people surged back to save themselves; but the boy rose and
went, with the chain in his hand, and the dog trotted after him
happy and content.

DID IT make a stir? Oh, on your life! For nearly two minutes
the herd were speechless; and if I may judge by myself, they
quaked, and felt pale; then they all broke out at once, and discussed
it with animation and most of them said what an astonishing thing
it was-and unbelievable, too, if they hadn't seen it with their own
eyes. With Marget and Fischer and Barty the note was admiration.
With Frau Stein, Maria, Katzenyammer and Binks it was wonder,
but wonder mixed with maledictions-maledictions upon the devil
that possessed the Jail-Bird-they averring that no stranger unprotected by a familiar spirit could touch that dog and come away but in fragments; and so, in their opinion the house was in a much
more serious plight, now, than it was before when it only had a
thief in it. Then there were three silent ones: Ernest and Moses
indicated by their cynical manner and mocking smiles that they had
but a small opinion of the exploit, it wasn't a matter to make such a
fuss about; the other silent one-the magician-was so massively
silent, so weightily silent, that it presently attracted attention. Then
a light began to dawn upon some of the tribe; they turned reverent
and marveling eyes upon the great man, and Maria Vogel said with
the happy exultation of a discoverer-

"There he stands, and let him deny it if he can! He put power
upon that boy with his magic. I just suspected it, and now I know
it! Ah, you are caught, you can't escape-own up, you wonder of
the ages!"

The magician smiled a simpering smile, a detected and convicted
smile, and several cried out-

"There, he is caught-he's trying to deny it, and he can't! Come,
be fair, be good, confess!" and Frau Stein and Maria took hold of
his great sleeves, peering worshipingly up in his face and tried to
detain him; but he gently disengaged himself and fled from the
room, apparently vastly embarrassed. So that settled the matter. It
was such a manifest confession that not a doubter was left, every
individual was convinced; and the praises that that man got would
have gone far to satisfy a god. He was great before, he was held in
awe before, but that was as nothing to the towering repute to which
he had soared now. Frau Stein was in the clouds. She said that this
was the most astonishing exhibition of magic power Europe had
ever seen, and that the person who could doubt, after this, that he
could work any miracle he wanted to would justly take rank as a
fool. They all agreed that that was so, none denying it or doubting;
and Frau Stein, taking her departure with the other ladies, declared
that hereafter the magician should occupy her end of the table and
she would move to a humbler place at his right, where she belonged.

All this was gall and vinegar to that jealous reptile Ernest Wasserman, who could not endure to hear anybody praised, and he began to cast about to turn the subject. Just then Fischer opened
the way by remarking upon the Jail-Bird's strength, as shown in the
wood-carrying. He said he judged that the Jail-Bird would be an
ugly customer in a rough stand-up fight with a youth of his own
age.

"Him!" scoffed Ernest, "I'm of his age, and I'll bet I'd make him
sorry if he was to tackle me!"

This was Moses's chance. He said, with mock solicitude,

"Don't. Think of your mother. Don't make trouble with him, he
might hurt you badly."

"Never you mind worrying about me, Moses Haas. Let him look
out for himself if he meddles with me, that's all."

"Oh," said Moses, apparently relieved, "I was afraid you were
going to meddle with him. I see he is not in any danger." After a
pause, "Nor you," he added carelessly.

The taunt had the intended effect.

"Do you think I'm afraid to meddle with him? I'm not afraid of
fifty of him. I'll show him!"

FortyFour entered with the dog, and while he was chaining him
Ernest began to edge toward the door.

"Oh," simpered Moses, "good-bye, ta-ta, I thought you were
going to meddle with the Jail-Bird."

"What, to-day-and him all tired out and not at his best? I'd be
ashamed of myself."

"Haw-haw-haw!" guffawed that lumbering ox, Hans Katzenyammer, "hear the noble-hearted poltroon!"

A whirlwind of derisive laughter and sarcastic remarks followed,
and Ernest, stung to the quick, threw discretion to the winds and
marched upon the Jail-Bird, and planted himself in front of him,
crying out,

"Square off! Stand up like a man, and defend yourself."

"Defend myself?" said the boy, seeming not to understand.
"From what?"

"From me-do you hear?"

"From you? I have not injured you; why should you wish to hurt
me?"

The spectators were disgusted-and disappointed. Ernest's courage came up with a bound. He said fiercely,

Haven't you any sense? Don't you know anything? You've got
to fight me-do you understand that?"

"But I cannot fight you; I have nothing against you."

Ernest, mocking: "Afraid of hurting me, I suppose."

The Jail-Bird answered quite simply,

"No, there is no danger of that. I have nothing to hurt you for,
and I shall not hurt you."

"Oh, thanks-how kind. Take that!"

But the blow did not arrive. The stranger caught both of Ernest's
wrists and held them fast. Our apprentice tugged and struggled and
perspired and swore, while the men stood around in a ring and
laughed, and shouted, and made fun of Ernest and called him all
sorts of outrageous pet names; and still the stranger held him in
that grip, and did it quite easily and without puffing or blowing,
whereas Ernest was gasping like a fish; and at last, when he was
worn out and couldn't struggle any more, he snarled out,

"I give in-let go!" and 44 let go and said gently, "if you will let
me I will stroke your arms for you and get the stiffness and the pain
out;" but Ernest said "You go to hell," and went grumbling away
and shaking his head and saying what he would do to the Jail-Bird
one of these days, he needn't think it's over yet, he'd better look out
or he'll find he's been fooling with the wrong customer; and so
flourished out of the place and left the men jeering and yelling, and
the Jail-Bird standing there looking as if it was all a puzzle to him
and he couldn't make it out.